Tuesday, June 25, 2024 - Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his decision to go public about delays in the supply of military weapons from the United States, saying months of private discussions with the US government did not yield any results.
At the beginning of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, June 23,
Netanyahu said, "After months of no change in this situation, I decided to
give it a public expression. I did this based on years of experience, and
knowing that this step is essential to extracting the cork.”
Speaking during the meeting Sunday, Netanyahu said: “About
four months ago, there was a dramatic drop in the supply of armaments arriving
from the US to Israel. For weeks we asked our American friends to speed up the
shipments. We did it time and time again.”
“We did it at the highest levels, and at all levels, and I
want to emphasize - we did it in private rooms. We got all sorts of
explanations, but one thing we didn’t get: the basic situation didn’t change.”
Netanyahu went on to say that “in light of what I have heard
in the last day, I hope and believe that this issue will be resolved in the
near future.”
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that the Biden administration was
“withholding weapons” in a video posted to X, claiming that Secretary of State
Antony Blinken “assured me that the administration is working day and night to
remove these bottlenecks.”
In response to backlash faced from Israeli supporters, US
envoy Amos Hochstein told Netanyahu that his comments were “unproductive” and
“more importantly, completely untrue.”
The dispute comes amid the stakes around the war in Gaza and
a potential further conflict between Israel and Hezbollah remain high.
The US is Israel’s most important ally and biggest supplier
of arms but has voiced increasing concern over the mounting civilian casualties
in Gaza.
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